Voices of Strength

By Brenda Dempsey

When the norm no longer satisfies the hunger of men...

Publisher and Anthologist Brenda Dempsey brings together 17 men from around the globe who are ready to embrace their power for the good of humankind and show how they have beco

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Brilliance Publishing
• Release date: Jun 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9781913770716

Brenda Dempsey

Brenda is an award-winning entrepreneur, international bestselling author, philanthropist, anthologist and publisher. She is the CEO of Book Brilliance Publishing. Brenda is a bestselling author and a woman of influence, and was voted Woman Leader to Look Up To in 2022. She is also the Chief Strategic Officer (CSO) of the International Institute of Influencers, the Vice President of the International House of Speakers, and an Advisory Board member of Africa and Asia Chamber of Commerce. Having a prominent and highly successful career as a teacher and coach, Brenda has a unique and powerful skillset that has enabled her to consistently facilitate the success and growth of others in many industries and countries around the world.

Book preview

Introduction

Over the last five years, I have compiled several successful Amazon #1 anthologies. I have achieved this not only as an international #1 bestselling author, but as a publisher too. I embarked on an incredible transformation journey in 2020 when I founded Book Brilliance Publishing during lockdown after people approached me to support them in writing and publishing their books. In the past, my books have focused on women, but in July 2021, I brought together 45 Resilient Voices (male and female), who made Amazon #1 bestseller status on the day of publication, to share their stories borne out of lockdown.

As a publisher, I work with both men and women, and it was through working with men and seeing their transformations that I sparked the idea of compiling powerful stories from a male perspective. Their stories evidenced change within them directly from their experiences and the introspection that ensued. The inner journey is the most significant journey a human can take, and when men embark on this adventure, it transforms them into leading lives from a place of authenticity.

On contemplating a more profound meaning as to why and how I should conduct this project, it led me to research the power of masculine numbers. I wanted to align the book project to angelic numerology as Voices of Strength is a book with Soul; therefore, its foundation had to come from a spiritual place.

My research discovered that the number 17 is responsible for insight, responsibility, self-discipline, strength, compassion, spiritual consciousness, wisdom, a desire for peace and love for all of humanity. As you can see, the number 17 is significant and highly spiritual.

My mission involved bringing together 17 male Voices of Strength to show the world the transformational journey men are undertaking because they no longer wish to be part of the status quo. These men have connected within, gained enlightenment from their adversities and are ready to roar their message to the world. These men, fuelled with purpose, know the significance of working collaboratively to make a difference, and are prepared to step into their power and create a ripple effect that the world has never seen before.

By contributing as a co-author, they understand that the platform will increase their visibility, help them to be seen as the author of authority and innovatively grow their brand. Always conscious of how they can further influence, inspire and impact others, they seek ways to share their powerful messages so they can not only be the change-makers but the catalyst for change in the world.

Voices of Strength’s intention is a dream come true by bringing like-minded men together by creating a community. Bonds and relationships developed, and the men are already creating further opportunities for collaborations and joint ventures. Anthologies create ripples of Brilliance for the co-authors and readers.

It is time for you to acknowledge their resounding voices as they are heard and understood. Creating this all-male book will illustrate an invigorated energy that is not ego-led but heart-led, which restores balance to the world. It is time to leave your legacy.

I hope Voices of Strength inspires you to find your courage, take a leap of faith and follow your gut by being the beacon of light that shines a new path for future generations.

Do Different!

Be Brilliant!

Love

Brenda

Douglas Vermeeren is the epitome of someone with the courage and commitment to follow their heart and dreams. As a multi-talented actor, stuntman, director and producer, Douglas enjoys the fruits of his labour and shares his love with audiences, family and his dedicated team. One attains such high echelons not by chance, but by hard work, belief and passion.

In his chapter, Douglas captures the true essence of a Voice of Strength as he is fearless in sharing his story and using his voice to influence, inspire and impact others to find the courage to make better life choices.

On a cruise, I heard him speak about his love of movies and stunts but, more importantly, his commitment to being the best version of himself through teaching personal development. His words of wisdom are to be heard and acted upon. Enjoy…

Brenda

Douglas Vermeeren

Everything you do takes courage, but you soon learn to trust that courage will always be there for you.

Douglas Vermeeren

Ithink the most significant influences for becoming the man I am today in the 21st century have come from my mom and grandmother. Of course, my father was there too, and he had things to teach, but I believe the women in our life are often the more vital teachers.

These two highly influential, strong, powerful women taught me how to associate with other women and people in general. Watching them taught me how to live a life with dignity and respect. The most significant part of that process starts with respecting and having grace for yourself. People have a very public persona of who they are, and their private persona often doesn’t match up. You could argue that many people are different when alone, in secret, which I feel conflicts with authentically living your life. The memories I have of this skewed concept are that it was instilled in me to be the best I could be in both public and private situations.

I witnessed first-hand how these two women conducted their lives underpinned by respect for themselves. There’s a little saying that I use to reinforce the idea of infusing respect within yourself: A lifeguard can’t save others until they know how to swim. So you need to learn those skills for yourself, and if you can, learn how to be kind to yourself.

One of the challenges people face is learning to be fair about themselves. Learning to look inwards and being honest means sometimes you’ve got to call it for what it is, and this can be tricky as we always want the best, but sometimes we fall short. When I contemplate the meaning of this introversion, I have learned the saying, It’s hurt people that hurt people. So if you can master those feelings for yourself, you can suddenly start to support others.

I want to stress that this journey of self-discovery is lifelong. There is no end, so here’s the deal: you have to keep working at it until your last breath. Your final lesson is when they shut the lid on the box. But in all seriousness, I think it’s about committing to a willingness to work on yourself always. It’s not enough to say, I did this ten years ago, and I don’t need to do it again/anymore as I have already done it, – it’s about having a mindset of constantly learning. I’m a firm believer that if we look at the world around us, it’s constantly changing. If I learned something ten years ago, then that lesson applied ten years ago! But if I am constantly learning, then I’m up to date. I’m up to speed on what’s happening because we also evolve and become different people. The previously learned lessons deepen our understanding but there is now a new dimension because we have new tools and perspectives, so we look at people and situations differently.

I am a stunt performer and an actor and completed a movie called Courage in 2022, which will be out in 2023. It’s a comedy and was lots of fun. So courage is critical to me. Dr David Hawkins spent 20-plus years working and writing The Map of Consciousness. His work is based on a scale of human emotion from 1 to 1,000, from Shame to Enlightenment. Within his scale, courage is at the 200 level, the first step to transformation.

As a stunt performer, it’s easy to relate to courage. Everything you do takes courage, but you soon learn to trust that courage will always be there for you. Courage is also necessary on your journey because you must change your mindset from thinking I can’t do that, to telling yourself you can. Sometimes you even believe you are invincible, especially when you have done all the safety checks. Every day is a journey, and courage becomes part of your DNA. You build excellent courage muscle when you practise and establish good healthy habits because you evolve daily.

Furthermore, I know that courage only appears when connected to something important to you. We don’t get courageous or get fearful unless something has meaning. Maybe the first step for me was to realise what was important to me; to discover my values and beliefs. In personal development, I have heard that courage is the beginning of standing up for something you care about.

Having done stunts in movies and other media, everybody thinks I have no fear. But the reality is that I question why my anxiety is often diminished. After pondering this question, I realised we mitigate the risk. I have my team, and the people I surround myself with often see things differently, which helps me prepare and consider all the contingencies; therefore, it’s deemed a very safe thing to do. There is, of course, an element of danger, but there’s an element of danger walking across the street!

I also think that courage comes from a life change, which is often fearful and scary for you. Many of us are afraid of the dark. So what do we do to eliminate that fear as we turn on the light? We lean into the analogy of everything becoming brighter, more visible, transparent and less frightening. When you consider making a change in your life, one of the biggest things you can do is pause, reflect and think about it. All too often, we rush in. Look at the future, explore the possibilities, try and get help from others, and start bringing these things in little by little until the light appears. In other words, the more clarity around something, the less frightening it becomes.

It’s funny when you first realise you have inner courage that allows you to do crazy things and take risks. It just seems to be there one day without thinking. I believe it’s the habits we form that we don’t notice at the time, but it appears like magic after a while. When I contemplate my courage, a part of me wants to make a joke and call it stupidity. Sometimes the danger is ignored, but there is a grain of truth in that courage fuels us to take action when we’re so focused on the mission. We often forget the difficulty, but if you focus on the problem, you’ll always see the dilemma. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy notion. You have to focus on what you want. So when I’m doing stunts, for example, we prepare the best we can, and then we don’t look at the danger anymore. We look at the outcome that we’re trying to create.

The same is internally true for me. There are lots of things that still scare me. I’m not super great at relationships with the opposite sex. But I’m not super great because I’m shy, timid and intimidated by women, especially powerful women. And so, how do I face those kinds of situations with courage? I ignore what the possible outcomes could be, and I do it anyway.

I think sometimes the learning of certain things is found in the activity. Nothing happens with thoughts swimming around in your head; they stay there and remain thoughts. Only when you put your ideas into action does anything happen or change. So we often gain courage with momentum rather than courage in contemplation. This is a big challenge for many as they contemplate a thing until they hope they’ve figured it out, and then the time has passed. Sometimes in life, you only get a lightning-strike size of a window of opportunity, and if you don’t take advantage of it right now, there may never be another opportunity. There’s a balance between learning what you can and just jumping in and hoping for the best.

You need to get started, and the momentum within the process will help you. I think there’s a significant difference between motivation and impetus because motivation focuses on how we feel. So if you don’t feel like doing something, it’s hard to motivate yourself to do something when you don’t feel like it, but if you get started on it, even if you don’t feel like it, it becomes easier. Waking up early in the morning or talking to somebody about an upcoming stunt can be a chore, but if I even get a little bit started, somehow, I can keep going. It’s easier to keep it going versus getting motivated to do whatever.

Of course, if you are intrinsically motivated, it will be linked to a more significant ‘why’, and you will do it automatically rather than relying on external motivation. I think it connects to courage. I love what Mel Robbins has talked about with his five-second rule. Count to five before making your decision. Courage links to your beliefs as sometimes you impulsively jump in, and what, according to the proverb, happens? They say leap, and the net will appear. Take a leap of faith.

I don’t see the world as competitive. There’s enough space, opportunity, benefits, blessings, abundance, everything to fill in the blank, whatever you want. There’s enough for everybody. I feel like we’re all so unique in our different ways. Many people don’t want the same thing I want, and I don’t want what they want, and my set of skills leads me down a different path than their set of skills. I believe there’s a grave danger in today’s world as we’re also competing with everyone’s ‘shining moments’. For example, what we see on social media isn’t the reality. So why compete? Because what people are often showing you is their very best day. Very few take a picture of when they’re crying or sitting miserably in the corner and post it on social media. They take their best shot, the best lunch they ever had and the best kitty cat they’ve ever seen. You can fill in the blanks. Social media is a fantasy that captures a moment that may reflect some aspect of reality but is unsustainable.

The reality is, I think we need to step back and recognise that genuine authenticity isn’t about how others feel about you, but it’s how you feel about yourself. I try to create moments that I can be proud of and for those I love and care about,